CBS' Emmy Award-winning reality series The Amazing Race will return with a brand-new season for the 2013-2014 broadcast season! Look forward to more amazing travels, detours, road blocks and more coming your way later this year!

Make sure you are caught up on all things The Amazing Race by watching the latest full episodes, secret scenes and more here!

Eleven teams, several continents, and more taxis than you will take in your lifetime.

March 27, 2014 at 2:32pm EDT Sam Stryker BuzzFeed Staff

1. You’re going to see the credits and hear the theme music 12 times, and each time is going to be AWESOME.

2. If the producers changed the credits from the previous season, you’re going to be thrown for a serious loop.

3. If it’s the fall season, you’re never actually sure when the episode is going to start because of the NFL game airing earlier in the day.

4. Phil Keoghan will introduce the contestants in his AMAZING New Zealand accent.

5. Half the teams will be from L.A./some part of Southern California.

6. There is always a team of doctors. They will do really, really well.

7. There will be an old, married couple as a team. They will shock everyone and do amazingly well.

8. There will be one team who clearly does not have their shit together and YOU KNOW they will be eliminated in the first episode.

9. One team will have some amazing job that will give them a leg up on the competition — they are on the Harlem Globetrotters, ice hockey players, mountain bikers — because life just isn’t fair.

10. One team will have a job you could only dream of, like “YouTubers” or QVC hostesses.

11. Another team will be from a rural location in America. They will either be eliminated in one of the first episodes or exceed everyone’s expectations.

12. Yet another team will be dating, and talk about how they want to get closer and think the race will be a perfect experience to do so. This is complete and utter bullshit and they will fight like gamecocks.

13. There will be at least one team of D-list celebrities, most likely from another reality TV show.

14. There will be an insanely attractive team and they will look good for every challenge, even during the one where they are covered in mud.

15. One of the teams will make incredibly bold and asinine comments in their team intro, like “We’re not here to make friends” and “We’re here to win the million dollars” as if the rest of the teams are looking to sit around and make friendship bracelets together.

16. You’ll wonder why you didn’t apply to be on this season of The Amazing Race because honestly, you could beat at least half the teams without breaking a sweat.

17. The teams will give each other nicknames. Some of these will be cute and creative like “Afghanimals,” some will be incredibly boring like “the Cowboys,” and others will be sexist, like “the Bunnies.”

18. The teams will first convene in a remote and completely arbitrary location that under no circumstances would you ever travel to, like a ghost town, an abandoned oil field, or a high school football stadium.

19. You’ll finally get to see all the matching outfits the teams are wearing. Most of them will be smart and wear some sort of athletic clothing, like Nike or Under Armour.

20. For some reason, at least one team will always wear jeans. Don’t ask why, they just do.

21. At least one team will wear a unique clothing item like bedazzled shorts or a cowboy hat to “stand out” and you really have to just let them do their damn thing.

22. Phil will explain to the contestants how the race works, as if this show hasn’t been on TV for 20+ seasons and we all could recite the rules in our sleep.

23. Phil will do that weird thing where he arches his eyebrow for the first time of many times all season.

24. The race will start, and it will be complete and utter chaos. Some teams will run, some teams will jog, and others will do this weird galloping thing where it looks like they’re walking and running at the same time.

25. There is going to be a first flight and a second flight, and also a healthy dose of drama.

26. Even though the first flight will be across an entire ocean or continent, it’ll seem like no time has elapsed at all, setting a trend for the rest of the season. Yay editing!

27. The teams will be on the FIRST LEG and already there will be talk of alliances forming, despite the fact these will last for at most two episodes before someone stabs someone else in the back.

28. In the confessional one team will talk about how, even though it’s the first episode in, they’ve already developed a foolproof strategy that will carry them all the way to the final three. Three episodes later, they will be eliminated.

29. There will be insane building challenges and you will suddenly have a proper appreciation for your parents for assembling all your toys as a child.

30. It will seem as if half the season is spent in taxicabs, because it probably is.

31. At some point during the season, one contestant is going to suffer an outlandish injury, like a sprained ankle or a watermelon to the face.

32. At least one contestant will cry because a challenge like shaving their head or going down a water slide is “too difficult.”

33. Through the powers of editing, every episode will seem like a down-to-the-wire footrace, even though you know halfway through the episode who is going to be eliminated on this leg of the race.

34. You will develop a sixth sense as to when an episode is a non-elimination leg.

35. There will be a food-related challenge that at first will make you very hungry, but after watching a dozen contestants stuff their face with cake, frogs legs, or whatever, you will question whether you will ever want to eat a meal again.

36. At some point, the teams will have to drive a car with stick shift. This happens every season, yet there is always at least one team who is totally and utterly unprepared to do so.

37. Lots of hugs will be given on the Pit Stop mat. Some hugs will involve Phil.

38. Teams will perform a local dance, and will fail miserably.

39. A lot of screaming will happen in taxicabs.

40. Somehow, one team per leg will end up with the absolute worst taxi driver in the city they are in and end up hopelessly lost.

41. One team will defy all logic and forget to pay their taxi driver.

42. Half the destinations the teams travel to will be places you’ve never heard of.

43. Several of the teams will talk about how other teams underestimate them and to watch out, as if they’re Cinderella on the night of her ball.

44. Somehow, every team will be able to open up the clue envelopes without ripping them. Every. Single. Time.

45. Also, the sound of the envelope being ripped open is magical.

46. A team will walk right past the clue box as if they’re wearing a blindfold; meanwhile, you are screaming at the television because they need to open their damn eyes.

47. Someone will leave behind a backpack or bag, and the thought of wearing the same underwear for three weeks in a row is so cringe-inducing they will go back to retrieve said bag, despite the protests of their teammate.

48. You will roll your eyes at the punny names the producers gave to each episode’s Roadblock and Detour.

49. Someone will have an emotional breakdown over something trivial like making cocktails or building a model robot.

50. Many, many tears will be shed.

51. One team will make an entirely illogical travel decision, like booking a connecting flight with a 15 minute layover, and you will want to scream at them for making such a boneheaded move.

52. You will swallow your words because against all odds, their decision paid off.

53. The over/under on times someone screams “I can’t DO this!!!” during a Roadblock is eight, and the betting man definitely takes the “over.”

54. Phil will ALWAYS wear a button-down shirt, jeans, and a large belt at the Pit Stop mat. If it’s sunny out, he may also wear a hat. This will NEVER change.

55. Some of the challenges will be mind-boggling simple like shooting a bow-and-arrow, while others will be absolutely insane, like finding a clue in one of 400 sand castles. The contestants’ pain is your pleasure, though.

56. At several points during the season, you will question how “authentic” the cultural challenges are.

57. Randomly, one team will be fluent in like, seven different languages.

58. You will want to travel to EVERY country the teams travel to.

59. At least one challenge will seemingly involve a near-death experience (scorpions! sharks!) that seems way crazier than it could possibly be in real life.

60. You will see the Travelocity Roaming Gnome. A lot.

61. There will be product placement, and a lot of it.

62. Contestants will say ridiculous things like “I don’t do yolks,” which out of context are used as episode titles and sound even more insane when you actually hear it come out of their mouths.

63. At least one flight will be delayed at some point, and everyone will collectively lose their shit.

64. Also, someone will miss their connecting flight.

65. Many teams will think about U-Turning another team, then think better of it.

66. At some point during the race, one team will oversleep and barely make it to the starting point on time.

67. Teams will have to take an insanely long bus ride at some point — like, 24 hours — that you would never wish upon your worst enemy.

68. Teammates who are not performing a Roadblock will cheer and/or scream at their teammate who actually is doing the challenge, which nine times out of 10 will only drive said teammate more insane.

69. Some teams actually will U-Turn another team, and look like complete assholes while doing so.

70. Contestants will travel on forms of transportation you never knew existed.

71. One Roadblock or Detour will involve some degree of public nudity, and you as a viewer will be OK with this.

72. You’re ALWAYS going to stay after the commercial break to see the preview of next week’s episode.

73. The preview ALWAYS will contain a clip of one team melting down and another team falling off something (like a bicycle) or breaking something they were supposed to build.

74. An insane vacation will be given away at the end of every episode and you will be salivating at pictures of the hotels contestants will be staying at.

75. If it is a non-elimination leg, Phil will shock a team by telling them they are not eliminated. They will be very, very happy.

76. Two of the final three teams will be insanely competitive. Like, you could have called it from the first episode of the season.

77. One of the teams will be a complete underdog. They’ll spend most of the season finale out of breath and talk about how happy they were just to make it this far.

78. Within the first five minutes of the season finale, you will be able to tell who is going to win the million dollars.

79. And yet again, through the magic of editing, the producers will try and trick you into thinking the whole season will come down to the wire on the last leg.

80. One of the final tasks will involve a memory challenge from all the previous destinations of the season. This ALWAYS happens and yet only one team will have the foresight to write important details down as the season goes along.

81. One team will run to the final Pit Stop, scream a lot, and jump up and down as the other eliminated contestants cheer them on.

82. Phil will tell them they have won the Amazing Race!

83. More importantly, one team wins a million dollars.

84. The second and third teams to arrive to the end of the Race will smile, but their eyes will say it all — they are PISSED to not have won the million dollars.

85. All the contestants will hug, as if the previous few weeks where they wanted to strangle one another never happened.

86. You will sit on your couch as you watch three teams make it all the way around the world, and be insanely jealous for every minute of it.

« Last Edit: March 27, 2014, 06:59:24 PM by georgiapeach »

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In 2001, Bertram van Munster stood at a crossroads. His syndicated nature show Wild Things had come to an end, and the Dutch-born filmmaker and television producer was on the lookout for a new project to sink his teeth into. His partner Elise Doganieri  then an advertising executive with Ogilvy & Mather  proposed an idea for an unscripted show.

You get eliminated if you come in last  not because someone does something against you, explains van Munster, a concept that bucked the trend of hit shows like Big Brother and Survivor, in which plotting to eliminate fellow contestants was the point. Van Munster and Doganieri joined forces with film producer Jerry Bruckheimer, whose first venture into TV was CBS hit CSI, and CSI producer Jonathan Littman. Together, the foursome hammered out the finer points of the The Amazing Race, which van Munster successfully pitched to CBS president Leslie Moonves soon after.

CBS last month kicked off the shows 25th season with a sneak peek of the cast. Race boasts an average 10 million viewers.

We hoped The Amazing Race would be something exciting and stimulating to make, but we were really going off into the unknown, says show host Phil Keoghan. B.J. Averell, who won Season 9 with teammate Tyler MacNiven, explains: Youre part of this grand production, kind of like The Truman Show, that you dont know the extent of and Bertram van Munster is like the Christof (the Ed Harris character), pulling the strings of each day.Littman is a firm believer of dispensing information on a need-to-know basis only.

It is a very slippery slope, once you start telling teams what to do, he says. We tell them the rules and ways to conduct themselves to get around the world, so they dont end up in jail, and we have to remind them: Youre bound by the laws of the countries youre in, and you are not immune just because youre on a TV show. But outside of that, we try not to interfere, because thats when you get the best material. Theyre wild cards.

And if this means racers sustain vehicle breakdowns, navigationally challenged cab drivers and canceled flights, such real-life pitfalls are just part of the game  something Season 21 racers Mark Abba Abbattista and James LoMenzo know all too well.

The entertainment lawyer/heavy-metal rocker duo were enjoying first place standing when things suddenly went awry for them in Moscow.

After taking a taxi cab to a challenge on the Luzhkov Bridge, the cab driver ignored instructions to wait by the banks of the Moscow River, and drove off with their backpacks  passports and all, ultimately costing them the race.

We hadnt paid him yet, and I guess he made a decision that whatever was in those backpacks was more valuable than the money we owed, Abbattista says. In reality, he didnt get anything except laundry.

This is where the real world will come and bite you in the ass, Keoghan says. Your passport shouldnt be in a bag. Its the one thing you need to strap to your body, under your clothes, and it should never leave your side, no matter what. Its your ticket around the world and its your ticket to a million dollars, and its essential to finishing The Amazing Race.

The producers is constantly implementing changes to keep the production fresh.

For one thing, teams are now kept apart during the mandatory 12-hour rest periods between legs. Not only does this keep players in the dark as to the finishing order of the other teams in the previous leg, but it prevents them from bonding, thereby ensuring they remain cutthroat and competitive.

In a similar vein, sound and cameramen are all routinely rotated to different teams in order to eliminate the appearance of collusion.

Were always asking what we could do to shake things up, because our contestants watch the show, and weve been on for a very long time, Littman says. A lot of them come on thinking they know how its going to play, and whenever you throw a wrench into that, it completely throws them off.

But not all modifications pan out. Season 8, The Amazing Race: Family Edition, with 10 families of four competing, fell flat as critics felt that the challenges seemed watered down, and that setting the majority of legs within the continental United States robbed the show of its exotic intrigue.

We were not greatly enthused about Family Edition,  concedes van Munster, who explains that the larger number of racers competing made it difficult to properly tell each of their stories. It didnt quite feel right, he adds.

The Family Edition was widely embraced overseas, he adds. People outside of America responded to it, because America is a beautiful country. But we wont do it again.

So how long can the Race go on? According to Chris Castallo, executive VP of alternative programming at CBS Entertainment: indefinitely. Its hard to imagine a world without The Amazing Race,  says Castallo. We have parents who grew up on the show now watching with their kids.

As the casting director of The Amazing Race since its inception, Lynne Spillman has a unique perspective on what it takes to make a great contestant.

There is no formula for casting, she says, just the best teams and diverse relationships. Meaning, not all married couples or brothers, etc. We try to find something for everyone (in the audience).

Spillman says they also look for great talkers as well as people who will make great racers, and rise to the challenges. She notes that Season 24s winners Dave and Connor OLeary, a father-son team that came back for the all-star edition, exceeded her expectations. After the way they went out the first time, I didnt think they would last very long. To go on to win was unbelievable.

Shes come across partners who met in line at an open casting call and others who came with folks who were married but not to each other. And unlike other reality shows, looks arent a part of the process. Humor and knowledge of the show, in other words, being a fan, outweigh beauty by far, she says.

The Amazing Race won't begin airing it's new season for nearly two months yet, and even though he knows which team will walk away with the title of season 25 champions, even he can't explain what makes certain teams win over others.At the CBS Press Tour Red Carpet on July 18, he revealed that if there's a secret ingredient to success on the show, he doesn't know it.

"I don't know if anybody really knows what the secret ingredient is," he said. "...so I think part of the success of The Amazing Race is that it's unpredictable."

Bethany Hamilton & Adam Dirks Make Final Three?

He even revealed that he and the producers of the show all bet every season on who they think will win the whole thing-but so far, no one has ever gotten it right.

"Here's the thing, the show's been on 25 seasons...we all take a little wager at the beginning 0of every season, I'll be totally honest with you, and we've been doing it for more than a decade," he said. "None of us have ever gotten it right, Not once. So that shows you how unpredictable the show is...Nobody ever wins the money. We all just end up throwing it all in and having a beer at the end of the race."

And while he couldn't give away too much information about season 25 specifically, he did reveal that there's so much left for them to see and do before the shoe ever comes to an end.

"There's so many places to go. You know by the time we get around the whole world, we'll be ready for space exploration. We will travel to other planets and beyond," he said. "...There's still a lot to see. We have not been to Nepal, we haven't been to Antarctica. There's so many places we haven't gone."

He also expressed how excited he was that they did things a little differently this time around, opening up the starting line to fans for the first time, and officially revealing the cast months ahead of the premiere.

Growing hostilities and security problems abroad have prompted industry and intelligence experts to caution Hollywood studios and filmmakers to take extra security initiatives when filming in remote or hostile regions.

The Producers Guild of America issued a warning with guidelines in "Staying Safe When Shooting Abroad" on its website. Director of Communications Chris Green said the Guild was disturbed to learn of a recent violent attack on its members filming overseas. He said foreign budget incentives have made international productions attractive, but they have also paved the way for more serious risks.

“Producing can be a dangerous business, particularly on less friendly turf. We felt it was important to get this information out,” Green told FOX411, adding that there are numerous factors producers must consider in today’s global production industry.

“Be sure to check State Department alerts, research local customs and cultural expectations, hire a reputable company to provide security and, once on location, register with the U.S. embassy.”

Tony Schiena, CEO at MOSAIC – Multi Operational Security Agency Intelligence Company – agreed that security measures are too often a second thought for Hollywood honchos. He said a major studio recently called him at the 11th hour after hearing warnings directed at talent starring in a film they were preparing to shoot abroad. Just this week, he said he had to advise a studio executive shooting a big-budget movie in an extremely anti-American environment not to jump between regional borders without operational security steps in place.

The State Department remains concerned about the continued threat of terrorist attacks, demonstrations and other violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests overseas; earlier this year it issued a "Worldwide Travel Alert" for Americans doing business abroad.

Immediately after 9/11, the FBI issued warnings to Hollywood studios that they could be targeted, but industry and intelligence experts say the reins have been relaxed.

"More so than ever, celebrities or other high-profile public figures are an attractive target to extremists and terrorists," said Del Wilber, a former government intelligence and counterterrorism operative. "They will generate a large amount of news media attention and publicity if they are attacked or taken hostage, which is one of the things terrorists covet."

Last year, director Michael Bay suffered minor injuries in one of two extortion attempts on the set of "Transformers 4" in Hong Kong. Filming was interrupted when two men demanded $12,900 from the filmmakers and one of the men attacked Bay after police arrived to control the situation. A second incident occurred when four men approached a female crew member and demanded money.

But a greater concern is that prominent individuals are attractive targets for abduction and attack, experts say.

"Just imagine the media storm if a big star was kidnapped. If 19 Middle Easterners can come into our country and hijack our planes, they can easily take a famous person's car," said Tim Clemente, founder of the film consulting firm X-G Productions and a former terrorism/tactical operations special agent for the FBI.

Experts warn that it’s only a matter of time before something sinister happens to celebrities. Dom Raso, a former Navy SEAL and founder of the tactical training/defense firm Dynamis Alliance, said that when it comes to foreign on-location security, very few plans are put in place and production companies rely on local law enforcement to keep them informed.

“Hollywood takes the path of least resistance,” Raso said, adding that there have been recent concerns about foreign hotels being cased and information being obtained regarding high-value targets. “One of the biggest threats is technology – emails and geographic locations being traced.”

But Bertram van Munster, co-creator and executive producer of the globetrotting reality series “The Amazing Race," said the best security tactic Hollywood can take is to avoid a hot zone in the first place.

“There’s no reason to go to a war-torn zone while we are doing entertainment,” he said. “The world is still a very safe place to travel, contrary to what you might see on television. Of course there are certain hotspots you shouldn’t go to, places with war or certain diseases or what have you.”

But Wilber says studios are having problems determining which locations are “hot spots” these days.

“Unless filming at the South Pole, production companies must assume they are under threat wherever they film,” he said. “Even tourism travel by well-known, well-recognized celebrities is presenting serious concerns behind the scenes.”

Michael Norton has nine Primetime Emmy Awards holding court on his mother’s old work table that she used when she was a book binder. The longtime Manhattan Beach resident took home the trophies for being one of the producers for the hit reality competition show, “The Amazing Race.”

Norton took home another honor this week when Manhattan Beach Mayor Wayne Powell presented him with the mayor’s “I Love MB” award at the City Council meeting Tuesday night.

Norton said he was thrilled by the recognition and Manhattan Beach has been “deeply embedded” in his heart since he moved to the city in February 1995.

“I have been to so many places during the past 20 years because of my jobs,” said Norton, a native of Switzerland. “The amazing thing is that every time I come back to Manhattan Beach, I would not want to be any place else in the world. It’s just such an incredible place to come back to between the ocean, the people and all the things that are nearby, the deserts and the mountains.”

Since 1997, Norton has traveled the world for producer Bertram van Munster, who hired him for the wildlife show “Wild Things” in 1997. Van Munster and his producing partner and wife Elise Doganieri came up with the concept of “The Amazing Race,” a show where teams of two people, related in various ways, compete against other teams in a global fight to the finish for a hefty prize. Norton was recruited to join “The Amazing Race” and began scouting locations in October 2000 for the show’s first season, which debuted on Sept. 5, 2001.

“The Amazing Race” is currently in its 25th season and Norton has already started scouting exotic locations for the show’s 26th season. Norton keeps his travels secret due to the nature of the show.

“For the audience and the contestants, you want to keep it a surprise where they are going,” Norton said. “For it to be a true challenge each time before they get the clue, they really don’t know what the next step is. Imagine yourself in that position, opening an envelope and it could tell you to go to the barber shop in the town that you’re in right now or it could tell you to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower.”

As a supervising producer on the show, another part of his job is to make sure each planned competition is actually doable.

“Once Phil (Keoghan, the host) has said ‘go’ and the contestants are running, it’s on and it’s live,” Norton said. “What you see on the screen is what happened. So we have to make sure on our side that everything holds together and that everything can be played out truly and the contestants have the ability to run the course freely. We want to make sure that happens and it’s a great challenge ... every country, every mode of transportation, has its own gremlins and you have to make sure you ferret them out and deal with them.”

Norton travels about eight months a year, but during past hiatuses he has been able to work on shows like National Geographic’s “21st Century Warship” and the first season of “Ax Men” on the History Channel.

“It’s not easy living, logging is hard work and it’s dangerous,” said Norton of “Ax Men.” “But to see what these people do first-hand and how it affects their families and how they pull together, is unbelievable.”

“The Amazing Race” has won 13 Primetime Emmy Awards during its 13 years on the air. It has taken home the “Outstanding Reality-Competition Program” almost every year from 2003 to 2014, but lost out one year to “Top Chef” and “The Voice.”

“We want to win and we’re proud to be part of that competition,” Norton said. “It’s not something we take for granted and every time it did happen we were over the moon.”

Will Forte’s Last Man on Earth has been a solid success over at Fox, but if Forte had his way, he might be on another network right now. The actor recently revealed that he and his MacGruber co-star Val Kilmer are both obsessed with the idea of competing on The Amazing Race. That’s right, they would love to team up and be one of the celebrity teams to travel around the world competing for a million dollars, according to the comedian.

Forte recently revealed that he and Val Kilmer hung out on the set of MacGruber and became fast friends. Kilmer eventually crashed with Forte for a while, and spent a good chunk of their leisure time watching CBS’ hit travel-based competition series. For a while, they decided they would apply, but Forte tells Vulture things haven’t worked out yet.

"We checked with our agents to see if they would let us do it and they were both wildly against it. We almost said, ‘Oh, screw them.’ But then we both got too busy."

If the fates ever align and Will Forte and Val Kilmer do eventually appear on The Amazing Race, they won’t be the only celebrities to have ever popped up on the show. Actor and writer Mike White has appeared on the show before, and the show has also hosted famous athletes and more. Athletes, including former NHL player Bates Battaglia and professional poker player Maria Ho, have also appeared on the long-running series. In the music realm, New Kids on the Block’s Jonathan Knight appeared on The Amazing Race this season before being eliminated at the end of the fourth leg. Obviously, Val Kilmer and Will Forte signing on would be a much bigger team-up on the show, and that just makes us want it to happen even more.

It has been five years since MacGruber was released, and clearly the two men haven’t popped up on The Amazing Race in the time since, which means it may not ever happen. However, the idea of bigger celebrities appearing on The Amazing Race is certainly appealing for fans of the show. The unscripted program has tried a lot of gimmicky concepts over the years, but there hasn’t been a celebrity season, yet. It would be hard to coordinate the schedules of a bunch of different celebrities, but if Dancing with the Stars can do it, I have no doubt The Amazing Race could figure it out.

While we wait for Forte’s potential reality appearance, you can catch him when The Last Man on Earth airs on Sunday nights at 9:30 p.m. ET.

I wanted to talk with Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri, executive producers of "The Amazing Race," about the future of the show and found them easily. When I told them fans had been concerned that CBS had lost faith in the show, they said that wasn't their impression at all. And in more good news, they said they had just met with the network and were casting another season to follow the one airing in the fall.